Zelensky’s visit to SA signals deeper cooperation on food security, digitalisation

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is soon to make a historic visit to South Africa, which it sees as a significant partner with which it should pursue stronger relations beyond the ongoing Ukrainian-Russian war.

This included ensuring that South African strengthen its hand to achieve President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ambitious development goals as president of the G20, including food security and digitalisation.

Besides, the visit is the first for a Ukrainian head of state in the history of the two nations’ diplomatic relations, that began in 1991.

Zelensky, who will be accompanied by his wife Olena and senior state officials, had identified South Africa as a key player in Africa.

He responded to an invitation by Ramaphosa, who had been part of an African peace mission to Ukraine in the early days of the three-year conflict.

The visit – set to take place on 24 April – is an acknowledgement and show of respect for the role South Africa plays as a neutral partner in the war, but the central theme of the visit is to strengthen current bilateral relations beyond the war.

This emerged during an interview with Ukrainian ambassador to South Africa, Liubov Abravitova in Pretoria yesterday. Abravitova said the visit is about cementing existing relations and looking into the future.

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Although she would not be drawn into divulging whether the Russian-Ukrainian war was on the agenda, the envoy said the issue would depend on whether South Africa would use the opportunity to discuss the matter.

But Zelensky’s visit wasn’t really about the issue, she said.

“This visit is about our relations – past, present, and in future. We had a history where our two young democracies were pre-occupied with our regional and domestic politics. Therefore, it’s important to explore the prospects,” Abravitova said.

The talks would explore Ukraine’s role in worldwide food and energy security, agriculture in general, information technology and digitalisation, the use of natural resources and human rights, including the respect of the international law and the reform of multilateral bodies such as the United Nations.

“In addition to technologies, digitalisation, Ukraine showed itself as a strong and reliable player in food security, even despite the fact that Russians are deliberately bombing our agricultural facilities and damaging our agricultural fields,” Abravitova said.

On the war and peace efforts around it, the ambassador acknowledged the role those different countries played and their suggestions in an attempt to resolve the conflict.

But she was adamant the war could end any time if Russia was willing to stop.

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“The only thing that Russia needs to do is to withdraw from our sovereign territory and from the Ukrainian peaceful cities. If Russia can stop to target Ukraine energy and agricultural infrastructure, the war would be over,” she said.

But the initiative that came from South Africa, in particular, working with other African countries to try and find a lasting peace in Ukraine, including Ramaphosa’s visit to Ukraine, was as important as it was historic.

It was the first time that the African continent stood up to say they were also affected by the conflict and that the war must come to an end and they participated in resolving it.

“For us, this was very meaningful. Among others, we heard about a commitment to help bring the Ukrainian children back from Russia. I think that all those issues are still relevant in our dialogue between Ukraine and South Africa,” Abravitova said.

The war provoked the development of many factors in Ukraine, including the experience, which could be used by South Africa to sustain its future development.

As president of G20, Ramaphosa had ambitious goals which could be achieved through partners like Ukraine that would share experience and knowledge in different fields.

Also, food security, of which Ukraine was strong, would play an important role in realising South Africa’s ambitions.

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